Private Customisable City Tour with Transport Rio de Janeiro

Copacabana beach and promenade

Copacabana is the beach that made Rio de Janeiro famous: a four-kilometre crescent of sand between Sugarloaf at one end and the Arpoador rock at the other, lined by the black-and-white wave mosaic of its promenade and a wall of hotels and apartment buildings. The tour drives its full length, and your guide can stop at the viewpoints and kiosks along the way so you can step onto the sand and photograph the curve of the beach with Sugarloaf behind.

Early in the day Copacabana belongs to joggers, swimmers and volleyball players; later it fills with families, vendors and sunbathers. A private Rio city tour lets you decide how long to spend here. The old fort at the southern end and the fishermen's beach beside it are worth a short detour if you have the eight-hour option.

Ipanema and Leblon

West of Copacabana, past the Arpoador rock, come Ipanema and Leblon, the beaches that define the elegant side of Rio. Ipanema's sand faces the Two Brothers hill, whose twin peaks appear in every photo of the sunset here, and the streets behind are full of cafés, galleries and boutiques. Leblon continues the beach to the foot of the hill and is quieter and more residential, with a small lookout at its far end.

Your guide will explain how the lifestyle of these neighbourhoods, from the beach culture to the music that was born in the cafés of Ipanema, shaped the image of the city. The drive along the seafront takes about twenty minutes without stops; with a walk on the sand and a coconut water from a kiosk, allow forty-five minutes to an hour.

Santa Teresa

Santa Teresa is the bohemian hilltop neighbourhood of Rio de Janeiro, a maze of steep cobbled streets, nineteenth-century mansions, artists' studios and small squares that looks down on the city centre and Guanabara Bay. The yellow tram that has climbed the hill since the 1890s still rattles along its narrow tracks, and the viewpoints at the top are among the best in the city.

A Santa Teresa tour with a private guide is the easiest way to see it, because the streets are hard to navigate alone and parking is scarce. Your guide drives you up, stops at the best lookouts and walks with you through the galleries and craft shops. Plan about an hour here, or longer on the eight-hour option if you want to explore on foot.

Lapa and the aqueduct arches

At the foot of Santa Teresa lies Lapa, the district of old townhouses that becomes the centre of Rio's nightlife after dark. Its landmark is the Carioca Aqueduct, a double row of whitewashed stone arches built in the eighteenth century to carry fresh water into the colonial town; today the Santa Teresa tram runs across the top. By day Lapa is quiet, and the square beneath the arches is the classic photo stop.

From Lapa it is a short walk to the staircase covered in coloured tiles that climbs towards Santa Teresa, and your guide can include it if you wish. Lapa also sits beside the historic centre, so travellers on the longer options often continue from here to the old squares and churches downtown. Allow thirty to forty-five minutes.

Shaping your own route

The route above is our suggestion; the point of a private tour is that you decide. When you book, tell us what matters to you, whether that is the viewpoints of Christ the Redeemer or Sugarloaf, a museum, the historic centre or simply more beach time, and your guide builds the day around it. Entrance fees to any attraction are bought on site and are not included.

The four-hour option covers the beach drive plus Santa Teresa and Lapa; six hours adds one or two more places; eight hours is a full day with a lunch break at a restaurant your guide recommends. Traffic in Rio can be heavy, and in high season the order of stops may change according to conditions and opening hours.